


plant your tulips on mine

by iwaoidk



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Fluff, M/M, Rare Pair, it's not even a ship it's more of a kayak, serena please read and weep, this ship needs more fics, yama is a cute lil flower shop boy and kyou is gonna explode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-15
Updated: 2015-08-15
Packaged: 2018-04-14 19:50:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4577655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwaoidk/pseuds/iwaoidk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He reaches into his bouquet and draws out one daisy, a single flower, seems to blush harder and hands it to Tadashi.</p><p>"Here."</p><p>And now Tadashi is the one blushing, and he feels himself turn pink, fingers closing around the thin stem as he takes it.</p><p>(He's definitely not disappointed that their fingers didn't brush. He's not.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	plant your tulips on mine

Tadashi pinches the apron between his fingers. Lets the fabric slide along the pads of his fingertips, lets it drop back against his thigh. He does this once more, twice, three times, and then he puts his hands on the counter in front of him.

The shop was a little less than crowded today. It actually only had one person inside, and that one person, of course, was Tadashi himself. _  
_

Twenty-one and in college with bitten fingernails and too many essays to type, he'd landed a job at a nearby flower shop, the Crow's Garden. 

It was cute, actually, in that whole pastel-colors-and-flower-petals sense. Easy to be around, easy to be inside, and it was simple. People who bought flowers were usually the types who didn't fight, which meant less cashier hassles. Less fighting over change, less of the squabbles with the few that wanted what they wanted and what they wanted wasn't there.

Tadashi pushes a flower pot of tips to the right a little, bringing a finger up to trace around the rim. He glances back around at the empty shop, and feels a twinge of guilt that he's being paid to do virtually  _nothing_.

But then he tries to shrug it off, tries to tell himself that he's in college and  _a paying job is a paying job_. _  
_

"Hey, Yamaguchi! Bored yet?"

A short girl emerges from the back room. She's tiny, almost enough to be mistaken for fifteen when she's really just a year younger than Tadashi. Her hair is a sunny sort of blonde, her smile wide enough to compensate for the height, and Tadashi smiles back.

"Yeah. It's boring. You're lucky this wasn't your shift, Yachi."

She shrugs, picks up one of the miniature cacti on the racks by the wall. "A few are probably gonna be flowing in. It's almost 6. Most evening dates start in an hour. You'll have customers soon."

Tadashi just laughs, stepping forward to take the cactus from her and set it back down (she usually pricks herself every time).

"I guess I'll just wait it out. Then it'll be your turn to suffer."

Yachi beams at him standing on her toes (and then jumping a little) to ruffle his hair. "That's the spirit! Now get back to the counter. I think the guy outside is about to come in." Then she disappears into the back again.

Tadashi looks towards the front door and quickly makes his way back over behind the cash register. There  _is_ someone outside but he seems a little... indecisive. There's a hand on the handle of the door and he looks to the right. Then back into the shop.

Right at Tadashi.

Then he looks to the right, and then behind him. Back to the shop.

He opens the door, and when Tadashi sees him, he just thinks two words.

" _Oh god_."

He's fairly tall, broad shoulders and strong chest and toned arms. His skin is tan, a gentle bronze over the curve of his elbows. He has blond hair, at least  _partially_ , two dark stripes racing from one side of his head to the other.

But then he faces forward and Tadashi sees his eyes and it just makes everything hurt  _more_. 

They're dark, brewing, deep-set and stormy straddling the bridge of his nose.  _Intense_ is the right word for it, and Tadashi would think that he's in the shop and knows exactly what he wants if it weren't for the fact that those eyes are suddenly squinting. Staring at the label of the orchids like he had no clue what it means. Tadashi can see one of his hands anxiously tapping against the side of his thigh, long fingers beating a light rhythm as the other hand skimmed the shelves.

Ah. Dark and mysterious, but nervous.

 _Cute_ , Tadashi thinks, and then he watches as the man picks up a bouquet of daisies.

 _Also_   _cute_.

He looks stoic, to say the least. Sturdy. And daisies were simple little adorable flowers. In most cases, it was an odd mix.

But here, Tadashi just finds it adorable.

Then he's walking towards the desk and Tadashi has to remind himself to breathe. The man is still drumming his hand against himself nervously, and Tadashi just wonders what's making him so anxious.

The flowers are sat on the counter right in front of him, and Tadashi does his best to regulate his voice.

"That'll be $5, please." He pushes in a smile too, tips his head to the side and wraps up the flowers in paper and laces a rubber band around the stems. He staples a packet of flower food to the paper while the man fishes money from his pocket, and Tadashi watches him from the corner of his eye just enough to see when he freezes.

"I, ah..." the stranger says, a little strained and a little uncomfortable. His voice is nice though,  _very_ nice, quiet but rough and deep in the right way. Tadashi looks up at him, smiles again, hands over the flowers and raises an eyebrow.

The man slides four one dollar bills over and two quarters. 4.50.

"I don't have anything else. I left my wallet in the car," he says, rubbing the back of his neck and looking embarrassed.

 _Why would you come into a shop to buy something with no wallet_...?

But Tadashi doesn't say that, just scrapes the quarters into his palm and pulls the cash register drawer open. He pushes in the coins and grabs the dollars, looking up as he's organizing to grin reassuringly at the man.

"Don't worry, I'll let you go this time." He winks, pushes the drawer closed and locks it, and the man looks both happy and terrified at the same time.

He's extremely attractive, Tadashi decides.

"Oh.  _Oh_." His cheeks seem to redden, his hand holding the bouquet tighter. "Thank you. You really don't have to," he bites his lip and Tadashi almost  _shakes_ , "What's your name?"

"Tadashi," he says without thinking, and he smiles again. 

His cheeks hurt.

"You really didn't have to. But thank you."

He reaches into his bouquet and draws out one daisy, a single flower, seems to blush harder and hands it to Tadashi.

"Here."

And now Tadashi is the one blushing, and he feels himself turn pink, fingers closing around the thin stem as he takes it.

(He's definitely not disappointed that their fingers didn't brush. He's not.)

"It wasn't... It wasn't a big deal..." He laughs nervously, bringing the flower to his chest, "It was only fifty cents..."

The man shrugs, gives him a small smile of his own. And then he's walking to the door, pushing through and calling back, "Thank you, Tadashi."

As Tadashi almost falls back onto his stool, daisy stem rolling between his fingertips and lip pulled between his teeth, and he vaguely realizes that he gave his first name.

 

##

 

It's a whole week before he sees him again.

A whole week of Yachi winking whenever a customer buys daisies. A whole week of telling her " _No, I'm not planning a honeymoon_." A whole week of changing the water in the vase where the daisy stayed back in his apartment. A whole week of looking at the door every time someone pushed through.

He's back at the front desk again, looking at the reflection of the display case behind him as a mirror. His hair has gotten long, some of it reaching the bottom of his neck and some long strands tickling at the edges of his ears. He turns and glances around the desk, grabs one of the stray hair ties Yachi leaves everywhere (literally everywhere. He found one inside tea she made for him once. He makes it on his own now) and pushes it onto his wrist. Turning back to the display case, he tips his head a little, reaching up with one hand to rake his hair back and using the other to gather it into a small bunch. One lock drifts free from behind his right ear but he leaves it, pulling the tie off his wrist and wrapping it around the short amount.

Then he hears someone clear their throat.

He freezes and turns around, hands fluttering down nervously as he faces the person in front of the register.

And then he just about  _melts_ , sinks to the floor and begs to disappear, because it's the same man from last week who had given him a flower.

"Oh! Hi!" he says eloquently, cheeks burning pink as he notices that this time, the man has already picked a bouquet. He still seems nervous though, and Tadashi can see the entire right side of his body bouncing as he taps his foot, his fingers still tapping restlessly against the stems. He's got a group of orange carnations, and Tadashi wraps them up as the man gets out an actual wallet this time. He pulls out a five dollar bill, and two quarters.

"Here. To make up for last time."

Tadashi smiles slightly, taking the five dollar bill and pushing the quarters back.

"I said not to worry about it. It's fine, you can keep the fifty cents."

The man slides them back towards him. "I insist."

Tadashi pushes them back (maybe just because he wanted to touch the man's hand) and shakes his head. "Nope."

And the man sighs, maybe in resignation and maybe because the corners of his lips are pulling up, and he takes the quarters. "Fine."

Tadashi puts the five dollar bill away and looks up to find the man holding out one orange carnation.

"But you paid the right-"

"Take it anyway. Your, uh..." The man coughs behind a hand, looks to the floor and then the wall behind Tadashi, "Your hair looks cute."

And then he remembers that he'd tied it up and this time he's sure that the floor is reaching out for him. Tadashi closes a hand around the flower, smiles wide and blushes just enough to burn. "My hair?"

"Yeah. Your hair looks really... really nice like that."

He reaches out towards the lock of hair that's hanging by his cheek and suddenly freezes, like he thinks better of what he's about to do. But after a moment he reaches again, this time slowly, and tucks the strand behind Tadashi's ear.

Tadashi almost has to hide his smile behind his hand, and looks at him. "What's your name, if you don't mind me asking?"

The man seems surprised for a moment, then clears his throat with an answer. "Kyoutani."

"Kyoutani," he repeats, and he decides he likes it. Like the _tani_ at the end, likes the  _Kyou_ in the front, likes the taste on his tongue and the way Kyoutani seems to blush too when he says it.

"Well, thanks for the flower! Come back soon," he calls as he starts to leave.

And Kyoutani looks back, and his face is nothing short of embarrassed but a little glad, smiles right at him. "No problem."

 

Five minutes later, Tadashi notices two quarters in the tip flowerpot. 

 

##

 

Yachi looks like she's about to implode.

She's rocking back and forth on her heels, hands pressed against her cheeks as she squeals something incomprehensible.

"He did it  _again_? Yamaguchi, if you tell me  _one more time_ that he is completely uninterested-" _  
_

"He's completely uninterested."

"You're kidding me. You say he always looks nervous. Why do you _think_ he's so nervous?"

Tadashi leans back against the counter, shrugging. "Job interview? He has a really nice girlfriend who he's about to go out with?"

Yachi sighs and shakes her head, reaching forward to grab both of Tadashi's arms. "I think  _you_ are the one making him nervous."

He almost laughs at this, and he does, much to Yachi's offense. "I really doubt it."

"He came into the shop without a wallet the first time! He was planning to buy but left his wallet? That makes no sense. I think he came in to see the cute cashier and realized he should buy something to make it look like he had a reason for being there."

Tadashi raises an eyebrow, still unbelieving. "...Or he's just forgetful."

Yachi throws her hands up, brushing past him into the back room.

"When you end up dating, you're going to have to pay me."

 

##

 

It's two weeks this time, and on the fourteenth day, Tadashi is about to give up.

He's about to go out to a corn field and make crop circles and stand in the middle and wait for an alien abduction. When it happens, he'll  _beg_ for them to erase his memory.

That would be convenient.

But no, of course not, because life doesn't just try to  _be_ convenient for Tadashi. It's unfair, really.

So he finds himself sitting at the front desk two weeks later, and he'd just finished up with the last customer that had been in line. The shop was empty again, and he sighs, getting up off of the stool.

There's a little bin that sits in the corner of the room. All the stray flowers go there, the ones that don't seem to fit any bouquet or whose stems had fallen off or whose blossoms were too small, too big. Just a flower scrap bin. Tadashi approaches it, tugging it forward as he kneels down, starting to rifle through the contents. He finds some underdeveloped lilies, small rose buds, tiny daises, and a few other flowers. Carrying them back over to the desk and admitting to himself that yes, he is  _incredibly_ bored, he pushes his dignity aside and starts to twine the stems together. Positions some buds here, pushes some petals this way, ties the stems there and adds a few layers.

A while later (between helping a few customers), Tadashi finishes a flower crown.

He sets it on his hair, shaking his head a little to clear his bangs from his eyes. Then he swivels on the stool, pitches forward to lean in and look into the glass of the display case again. He studies the crown on his head and laughs a little. Shrugs. Tells himself that it doesn't look ridiculous at all, that he did an  _amazing_ job on the top with-

Then he sees something move in the reflection. Something that looks looks like a person.

He feels his heart drop to his toes and then he pivots on the stool, turning slowly and raising his eyes to see an amused man with blond and black hair.

"H-hi..."

Kyoutani just laughs. He leans forward on his elbows across the desk, smiling a little, and examines Tadashi's flower crown.

"Cute."

It's all he says, just one word, plain and simple and he's even used it before to describe Tadashi already but none of that really matters. All that matters is that Tadashi suddenly feels like his lungs are caught in his throat and he's turning red and he's stuttering without even speaking.

"Thanks?"

Kyoutani is shy again now, passing forward a bouquet of yellow tulips this time. There's already a five dollar bill in his hand, and he passes it over to Tadashi without a word. Tadashi takes it quickly, ringing up the price and the receipt and passing it over with the bouquet to Kyoutani.

They both stand there awkwardly, facing each other for a moment, and Tadashi realizes he's waiting for Kyoutani to give him a flower.

He's _expecting_  it at this point, and he finds himself being the one drumming his fingers nervously against the table.

And Kyoutani looks like he's about to do something but doesn't know if he should, he looks like he's holding his breath. There's a small knot between his eyebrows and his lip is caught between his teeth.

Then he turns, bouquet whole, and walks for the door.

Tadashi tastes something like sadness at the back of his throat, his fingers slowly stilling as they stop their nervous pace on the wood. He sits there for a moment as he watches Kyoutani leave, lets something cold and warm wash over his body at the same time.

His head falls forward into his hand, flower crown falling, head resting against his palm and fingers pushing through his hair as he sighs, long and heavy.

He shouldn't have been thinking it was a routine at this point. Shouldn't have thought that maybe there'd been a something, an  _anything_ , and he really didn't understand why he was so torn up in the first place because really,  _really_ , it was just a stranger in a flower shop and a college student who knew nothing about him.

Tadashi closes his eyes, tugging at his own hair a little, and he's right in the middle of slumping forward when he feels someone tap his shoulder.

He slowly brings his head out of his hand, running his fingers through his hair and opening his eyes tiredly.

And he almost screams.

There's Kyoutani, a hand behind his back and the other on the counter. He looks nervous as hell, jaw flexing as he stands, but this time, he looks  _determined_ too. 

"Hi," he says simply, and reaches for the fallen flower crown. He picks it up, setting it gently on Tadashi's hair and adjusting it so it sits straight. "Cute," he says again, smiling a little at Tadashi.

And Tadashi is screwed, he's  _so_ far gone, he just smiles back without thinking and tries to hold himself back from jumping over the desk and doing something insane, like kissing him right now.

"Sorry I ran out just now," Kyoutani mentions, rubbing the back of his neck. "I, uh. Forgot something."

And then he pulls his hand from behind his back to pass forward the bouquet of yellow tulips that he'd just bought.

"For you."

Tadashi freezes for a moment, eyes widening a little as he reaches out tentatively. He takes the bouquet, bringing it to him and holding it in his lap, glancing down at the petals and feeling his cheeks warm.

"Thank you," he says softly, more into the flowers than into Kyoutani's direction. He looks up, lips curling up into a smile as he speaks louder, "Thank you so much."

Kyoutani blushes too, clasping his hands in front of himself. "You're welcome."

Tadashi looks around, a little confused as he examines the scene. "But what'd you forget?"

Kyoutani brings up a hand, coughs into his fist. He looks up towards the ceiling, mutters something.

Leaning forward, Tadashi furrows his eyebrows slightly, looking up at Kyoutani. "I'm sorry?"

"My courage."

Tadashi's forehead is even more knotted now, and he's puzzled as he leans back. "Why would you need courage to-"

"Do you want to go out sometime?"

And there it is.

The words hang between them heavily, clouding through the air and rushing down into Tadashi's lungs. Spreading through his veins and pushing to the surface of his skin.

He's quiet for a while, still and shocked, gaping at the man across from him.

And then Kyoutani runs a hand down his face, turns away awkwardly and grimaces. "Sorry. I'm sorry. You don't have to answer that. I know it was-"

"YES."

He sort of _shouts_ it, loud enough that Kyoutani jerks back in some sort of surprise. The answer rips from him like a hurricane, sudden and bubbling and  _desperate_ to make its way past his lips.

Kyoutani regards him for a moment, a small smile settling on his lips, "...Yes?"

Tadashi takes a moment to compose himself, a deep breath as he leans forward on his stool, "Yes. I'd love to go out with you."

And then Kyoutani is smiling, a  _full_ smile, teeth and lifting cheeks and all, and Tadashi feels the ground being ripped from his feet.

 _I'm in so deep_ , he thinks, and smiles back.

 

##

 

It takes one week to learn that Kyoutani is as much as a gentleman as he comes off as. 

(He pulls Tadashi's chair out for him to sit in on their first date, and every single one after that.)

It takes two weeks to learn that he can't stand spicy food.

(He accidentally got a speck of wasabi on his rice and spent the rest of their date downing glasses of water.)

It takes three to learn that his lips are softer than the petals of the daisy that he'd given Tadashi when they'd first met.

(And his arms around Tadashi's waist make him feel safer than anything else.)

It takes four to learn that he really likes to hold something when he's asleep.

(Or more accurately, some _one_ instead of some _thing_.) _  
_

 

And it takes five for him to finally make that pun about planting his tulips on Tadashi.

 

(It takes two months for him to admit that he actually had known about the flower shop for a while, and about the cute cashier.)

(He'd been too afraid to go inside. Points for Yachi.)


End file.
